Employment Opportunities in Deaf Education

Employment Opportunities in Deaf Education

Employment Opportunities when you complete our Deaf Education Program

Students completing this program have the option to work in a variety of settings.

Classroom setting in a residential or day school

Public school

Itinerant teaching

Early Intervention

Work with oral/aural students

ASL dependent student

Total Communication settings

Deaf Education is a broad and diverse professional field that centers on educating children and youth who are deaf or hard of hearing. Teachers of Deaf/hard of hearing students become experts in language acquisition, the unique learning and communication needs of their students, strategies to help their students learn, communication specialists and much more.

Our BU Deaf Education graduates work in a variety of settings from teaching within public school systems throughout Pennsylvania’s Intermediate Units in various roles to residential schools for the Deaf through out the commonwealth of Pennsylvania and other states: New Jersey, New York, Maryland, Kentucky, Florida and more. Deaf Educators who work in a public school setting are often itinerant teachers who travel from school to school providing consultation to teachers and individual services to students who are integrated into general education classrooms. Teachers of the Deaf also provide academic support to deaf students in self-contained classrooms for students who need more intense academic support or perhaps have additional challenges.

The Deaf Education graduates from BU, themselves deaf, hard of hearing, and hearing, work in schools that support various language (ASL or English) and communication modes, that is, ASL only environments, total/simultaneous communication environments using spoken English and signing in English (e.g., SEE), and also in speech and listening environments.

In addition to classroom or itinerant teaching, BU Deaf Education graduates have become transition specialists working with students who are transitioning from school to work. Others function as educational interpreters and academic tutors in inclusive settings. Some work as Early Intervention specialists with families of newly diagnosed deaf or hard of hearing infants, providing support for the family during the early months as they confront and learn the challenges of raising a deaf or hard of hearing child. There are many other areas in which Deaf Educators expand their careers such as speech language pathology, career technology, audiology, school counseling, social work, educational administration, and even as representatives of companies providing products to deaf education or deaf individuals.